The Colour Cycle Podcast

The Colour Cycle Season 6: Pacesetters Conversations

Get ready for Season 6 of The Colour Cycle Podcast: Pacesetters conversations. Dive into intergenerational dialogues with trailblazing artists from culturally and racially marginalised backgrounds. Find out more about the social impact of their creative journeys at the original Pacesetters Creative Archives project by Diversity Arts Australia.

The Colour Cycle Podcast is on all good listening platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Anchor, Castbox, Castro, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podcast Addict, PodChaser, RadioPublic, SimpleCast, and Stitcher.

This season is supported by Create NSW. Diversity Arts also receives core funding from Australia Council for the Arts.

Jump to episodes

• Episode 1 – Kamahl
• Episode 2 – MC Trey
• Episode 3 – Khaled Sabsabi
• Episode 4 – Tony Ayres
• Episode 5 – Mayu Kanamori

S6 Ep1 – Kamahl

The Pacesetters conversations is a project of Diversity Arts Australia documenting and recording trailblazing artists’ work from culturally diverse backgrounds.

The interview with Kamahl looks at the challenges and triumphs he’s experienced from the racist treatment he received on Hey Hey It’s Saturday to reaching the pinnacle of his career at the Invictus Games. It chronicles some of his many achievements and the many incredible people he’s met — from Don Bradman to Prince Harry. And he reflects on his life’s story and the wisdom he’s gained.

For more about Kamahl:
Kamahl
‘I hope to have one last curtain call’ | The Australian
Kamahl opens up on racism on Hey Hey It’s Saturday | SBS Insight
Kamahl responds to Daryl Somers’s regret over Hey Hey It’s Saturday treatment | ABC
Credits:
Guest: Kamahl
Interviewer: Sunil Badami
Podcast producer: Nadyat El Gawley
Executive producer and host: Lena Nahlous, DARTS CEO
Pacesetters project producer: Kevin Bathman

S6 Ep2 – MC Trey

The Pacesetters conversations is a project of Diversity Arts Australia documenting and recording trailblazing artists’ work from culturally diverse backgrounds.

The interview with MC Trey is an overview of her life—from an idyllic childhood in Fiji, rougher teenage years in Western Sydney, becoming a pioneering and successful female rapper in Australia, and her present role as an integral community advocate for Pacific members of the Western Sydney community.

For more about MC Trey:
MC Trey
Feline Forces video on YouTube
Daily video on YouTube
Love, life & legacy – An interview with MC Trey | Rolling Stone

Credits:
Guest: MC Trey
Interviewer: Simone Amelia Jordan
Music: MC Trey©
Podcast producer: Nadyat El Gawley
Executive producer and host: Lena Nahlous, DARTS CEO
Pacesetters project producer: Kevin Bathman

S6 Ep3 – Khaled Sabsabi

The Pacesetters conversations is a project of Diversity Arts Australia documenting and recording trailblazing artists’ work from culturally diverse backgrounds.

When Abdul Abdullah approached Khaled Sabsabi for an interview, Abdul mentioned that there was already a lot of writing by smarter people than himself about Khaled’s practice. Abdul wanted to unpack the ideas that Khaled explores in his work– especially how he got to where he is, and to show readers his natural warmth. Abdul believes a lot of young people would relate to Khaled’s experience as an outsider, and how this formed his unique approach to a visual arts practice. It is an example of a young man reacting to a dysfunctional system and maturing into one of Australia’s leading artists. Khaled might not say it this way, but Abdul sees a clever street-wiseness becoming wisdom that we can all learn from.

For more about Khaled:
Khaled Sabsabi
Khaled Sabsabi in conversation with curator Matt Cox | Art Gallery of NSW
Khaled Sabsabi: A hope | Campbelltown Arts Centre
Khaled Sabsabi’s Fending for Peace | Mutual Art

Credits:
Guest: Khaled Sabsabi
Interviewer: Abdul Abdullah
Music: Dog and Kahnon, Khaled Sabsabi
Podcast producer: Nadyat El Gawley
Executive producer and host: Lena Nahlous, DARTS CEO
Pacesetters project producer: Kevin Bathman

S6 Ep4 – Tony Ayres

The Pacesetters conversations are a project of Diversity Arts Australia documenting and recording trailblazing artists’ work from culturally diverse backgrounds. The interview with Tony Ayres examines how his childhood, cultural identity and family tragedy have shaped his signature approach to storytelling today. Now entering his sixth decade of life, Tony reflects on how he went from orphan to orator of some of our most compelling and original stories on screen.

For more about Tony Ayres:
The Family Law Season 1 | The Adaptation Process
The Slap
Making Clickbait – a conversation with series creators Tony Ayres and Christian White | YouTube
One of Australia’s biggest TV producers is predicting a talent crisis | Sydney Morning Herald
A conversation with Tony Ayres | Sydney Review of Books

Credits:
Guest: Tony Ayres
Interviewer: Patrick Abboud
Music: L’Etoile danse (Pt1) by Meydan
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Podcast producer: Nadyat El Gawley
Executive producer and host: Lena Nahlous, DARTS CEO
Pacesetters project producer: Kevin Bathman

S6 Ep5 Mayu Kanamori

The Pacesetters conversations is a project of Diversity Arts Australia documenting and recording trailblazing artists’ work from culturally diverse backgrounds

Mayu Kanamori has about 30 years of practice under her belt , establishing herself as a multi-disciplinary artist and heritage interpreter working on site-specific projects across the country. In this interview she explores her early days as a photographer, her move into multimedia artistic practice, questions of history and collaborative projects with First Nations communities.

For more about Mayu Kanamori:
Mayu Kanamori
Unfolding Nikkei Australian stories: A conversation with Mayu Kanamori | Sydney Review of Books
In Repose: A Japanese Requiem | Radio National
Yasukichi Murakami – Through a Distant Lens (excerpt) | YouTube

Credits:
Guest: Mayu Kanamori
Interviewer: Yuki Kawakami
Music: L’Etoile danse (Pt1) by Meydan
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Clatter and Creek by Nul Tiel Records
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (international)
Podcast producer: Nadyat El Gawley
Executive producer and host: Lena Nahlous, DARTS CEO
Pacesetters project producer: Kevin Bathman

The Colour Cycle Season 5: StoryCasters TAKEOVER

StoryCasters is a project of Diversity Arts Australia and provides training and mentorship to young culturally diverse digital producers. Visit STORYCASTERS.NET for more.

The Colour Cycle Podcast is on all good listening platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Anchor, Castbox, Castro, Deezer, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Listen Notes, Overcast, Playerfm, Pocket Casts, Podcast Addict, PodChaser, RadioPublic, SimpleCast, Stitcher, and TuneIn.

This season is supported by Multicultural NSW and Create NSW. Diversity Arts also receives core funding from Australia Council for the Arts. StoryCasters trainer/ mentors: Jennifer Macey, Phoenix Eye, Sweatshop Literacy Movement, Nicola Morton, Del Lumanta. 

The Colour Cycle Season 4: Esteemed UK and Australian artists share WHO ARE WE NOW? in this special season!

This podcast was produced on the unceded lands of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin nation, and the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. Always was. Always will be. Aboriginal Land.

As part of British Council’s UK/AUS Season, Diversity Arts Australia (DARTS) is proud to present a new season of The Colour Cycle podcast spotlighting synergy between trailblazing female creatives in the UK and Australia!

Four insightful episodes—titled UK/AUS – This is Who We Are (Part One)—emphasise the experiences of women of colour and Indigenous women working in the arts and creative industries in the UK and Australia. The guests share cross-cultural knowledge, unpack the differences between regions, the notion of resilience, existing as women in artistic spaces and what they’ve learned throughout their careers. 

This podcast is a collaboration with This Is Who We Are, a UK-Australian movement of intergenerational & intersectional women artists, producers and creatives of colour who are transforming sectors, thinking and spaces.Co-directors Melanie Abrahams (Director. Renaissance One), Paula Abood (Director of The Third Space), Lena Nahlous (Executive Director of Diversity Arts Australia and host of The Colour Cycle podcast), Nur Shkembi (Melbourne based curator, writer and scholar). Festival Curator Melanie Abrahams Project Manager: Sarah Dara. Producer Renaissance One.

Support Diversity Arts on Patreon to help us continue to deliver our Colour Cycle podcast series.

The Colour Cycle Season 3 is here!

This new season of The Colour Cycle is centred around “Concrete Strategies for Racial Equity.” We cover a huge breadth of content: the impacts of Covid-19 on artists, global anti-racism movements such as Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate, the necessity of diversity standards, the power of Indigenous music in retaining language, and the importance of allyship and leadership networks. The season also features a series of conversations with UK creative industry thought-leaders, in partnership with British Council Australia.  Featuring: Writer/ broadcaster Benjamin Law; Executive Director, Creative Diversity Network UK Deborah Williams; Noongar singer/songwriter Gina Williams; Head of Inclusion, British Film Institute Jennifer Smith; artist and refugee advocate Safdar Ahmed; writer/performer Moreblessing Maturure; Senior Manager, Aboriginal Strategy and Engagement at Create NSW Peter White; Asian Australian Alliance Founder Erin Chew; local media legend Sunil Badami + MORE.

The opening and closing track “You know What” was written by UK based musician Spider J. Heartfelt thanks to Arts and Cultural Exchange for providing us with a recording studio. 

Support Diversity Arts on Patreon to help us continue to deliver our Colour Cycle podcast series.

The Colour Cycle podcast Season 2: Fair Play!

The Colour Cycle Podcast is packed with important ideas, strategies and insights from leading thinkers in the arts. If you’re committed to equity in the creative sectors, then you don’t want to miss this. This season features a special recording of Fair Play season live at the Diversity Arts Symposium, Wheeler Centre in Melbourne.

We’re sharing these thought-provoking and courageous conversations far and wide. Conversations and experiences from First Nations trail blazers Genevieve Grieves and Tony Briggs, international guests like Deborah Williams from the UK’s Creative Diversity Network, Disability leader, artist Caroline Bowditch, Aseel Tayah, Paula Abood, and many more.

Listen to the Season 2 trailer and The Fair Play Season 2 episodes kicking off with Episode 1: First Peoples First on our website below or on all good listening platforms.

Legendary hip-hop and soul artist MC Trey composed our title track.

Support Diversity Arts on Patreon to help us continue to deliver our Colour Cycle podcast series.

The Colour Cycle Season 1: A podcast to challenge cultural whitewashing

The Colour Cycle aims to disrupt cultural whitewashing and examines whether Australia’s Arts and Cultural sector looks like Australia. Join the conversation on your socials with #TheColourCycle.

Listen to a short Intro: